Thursday, February 19, 2009

I clipped this the other day and left it sitting in Photoshop ready to do something with ~ but now I have totally forgotten who the wonderful fiber artist is. Credit is due and I give you, the fine and wonderful crafter of these works of art, full and undeniable credit ~ I just can include your name and website here. These scrumbled neckpieces are stunning!

I'm lucky enough to have one of Prudence's books, Bullions & Beyond, which is out of print although it can be ordered as a pdf on her website. I haven't tried any bullions yet nor have I gone beyond, but the cover and inside photos made me buy the book.

When I bought the Prudence book I also picked up Jenny Dowde's Freeform Knitting and Crochet. She's another Australian who has published a few scrumble books. She credits The Crochet Workbook by Sylvia Cosh and James Walters as her inspiration ~ I've never seen this book but it seems to be highly coveted going for $60-$200 online.

I'm a bit amazed with the renewed excitement about crocheting. Grandma Mabel was masterful with her crocheted lace. Everyone had to have one of her lace hankies. I did my fair share of lace, but was never interested in hankies back then ~ what's a 13 year old going to do with lace edged hankies?

Other than scrumbling, I haven't seen anything that really gets me too excited about the crochet books and patterns being produced now. Probably the last book on "regular" crocheting that got me jazzed was Louisa Calder's Creative Crochet. I picked up this book at one of the weaving gulid's swap sales for a quarter. I think I bought the book just because she was the wife of Alexander Calder. The other reason was the color photos of her latch hooked rugs.

I grew up with the one latch hook rug kit of a kitten that I received as a birthday gift. It lived in a yellow plastic bag under my bed. I think I pulled it out every so often thinking I'd start "hooking" but never did. Maybe it was the black pre-cut acrylic yarn that turned me off, since when I saw the pictures of Louisa Calder's rugs I was inquisitive. She created these Miro-esqe rugs and is shown in one of the book's photo with balls of yarn and her yarn cutter. She obviously had a little more skill and went beyond using black pre-cut acrylic yarn.

At this point, I know I have a few yarn cutters in the basement and a storage container full of yarn that I saved to make my Miro-esqe latch hook rugs. I'll probably get to that after I finish scrumbling up a sweater or two. In other words, uhmmm, its pretty low on the every growning "to do" list.

Check out that typo ~ I wrote g r o w N i n g instead of growing. Is that what you call your "to do" list when it has exceeded the possible ratio between number of tasks and days left in your life? It is growning....

hi, so i totaly ran into this un expectedly but i am seraching for replacement blades for the yarn cutter and am having a whole lot of trouble finding some. if you know anything that could be helpful please drop me a line at jenniferdunhill@hotmail.com . thanks and have fun latch hookin

the reason why...

by hand ~ tatted or crocheted, grandma mabel made the most lovely lace. she taught me how to do "handwork" as soon as I could hold a hook. the hours she spent working with her hands made me want to do the same. now years after she has passed, i crochet for her, i knit for her, i weave for her, and i spin wool for her...by hand.